Dash-board



ABIA Z. BODA, OF COLUMBUS, OHIO.

DASH-BOARD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 251,514, dated December 27, 1881. Application filed May 20, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern 7 Be it known that I, ABIA Z. BODA, a-citizen of the United States, residing at Uolun1-. bus, in the county of Franklin and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Dash-Boards; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of theinvention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, and to letters or figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in means for attaching dashes to vehicle-bodies.

In the drawings hereto annexed, Figure l is a. view of the dash attached. Fig. 2 is a top view of the end-board of the body and the irons to which the dash is attached. Fig 3 is an-edge view of the iron which is attached to the end-board. Fig. 4 is a horizontal section through the socket at the point shown in Fig. 5. Fig. 5 shows the irons, the socket being in vertical section. Figs. 6 and 7 are modifications.

The letter A designates the front board of the carriage-body, to which the dash B is secured.

One corner of the dash-cover c is broken away in Fig. l to show the irons which connect the dash-frame to the carriage-body. The dash-frame d may be of any desired construe tion, but connected to the lower rail, d, of the frame and forming the corner-iron is a metal socket, E, the interior shape of which is that of a slot,f, whose greatest dimension extends lengthwise of the dash and opens at the under side, extending upward into the iron. This metal socket may be secured to the lower rail in any suitable manner. stance, the lower rail being of. wood, a thin plate or tongue, 9, extends from one end of the socket-iron, (see Fig. 4,) and a slit is formed into the end of the wood rail (1', into which the tongue enters. Two or more screws or rivets, h, are then passed through both the slitted end of the wood rail and the metal tongue, as shown in Fig. 1, which secures the parts firmly. The frameiron d, which forms the ends of the dash, is then secured to the end 1' of the socket-iron by two screws, k.

The internal dimensions of the width of the In the present insocket are greatest in its upper part, or at that part farthest from the opening at the under side. The practical effect of this is to give to the inner sides a slight gradual enlargenmnt or spreading form, as seen in Fig. 5, which serves a purpose hereinalter named.

The letter L designates-the two connectingirons, each consisting ofa straight flat plate, a, for attachment, by means of bolts p, to the board. In the present instanre the upper part of these irons set off at a right angle, q. to the flat part, which angular set-01f rests upon the top edge of the board A. From thence the head 1" of the connecting-iron projects upward and enters the slot of the socket.

The breadth of the head 1' is much less than the length of the slot, as seen in Figs. 1 and 4, .by which provision the dash-board may be adjusted endwise, the socket moving endwise over the head 1" of the connecting-iron in either direction. As'this adjustment may be made after the holes for the boltsp have been made in the painted and finished carriage-body board, all liability of a misfit owing to the position of the sockets on the dash with respect to the heads of the irons on the body is obviated. This permits any one of a number of ready-made and finished dash-boards to be applied to any ordinary finished carriage-body, inasmuch as the connecting-iron plates a may be secured to the body in such relative positions as the particular construction ofthe body happens to require, there being a certainty that the long slot of the sockets will insure a reception of the head.

In order that the head of the connectingiron and the socket shall be firmly secured together, the said head is formed with a slight twist with respect to the flat part a of the plate. This twist is plainly shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 4. The outer side of each of the two diagonal corners of the twisted head at the top edge is provided with a laterally-projecting lug, s. The top edge of the head, including the lug on each side, presents so nearly a straight line, as seen in Fig. 4., that when the flat part it of the plate is turned so that its surface, considered crosswise, is at a slight angle with respect to the length of the socket, the said top edge will readily enter the socket,

and when fully entered the laterally-projecting lugs on the head will be at the upper part,

where the width of the socket is greatest, as before explained. It will now be understood that upon tightening the nut on the boltsp, the fiat part n of the iron plate is brought close against the board A of the body, and thereby the twisted head is partly turned within the socket, causing the laterally-projecting lugs to bind very firmly against the inner sides of the socket, and resulting in the parts being rigidly secured together.

It is obvious that this principle of employing connecting-irons to secure a dash to the carriage-body may be availed of in a reversed manner to thatjust described-that is to say, the lower rail, d, of the dash, or the corneriron attached to it, instead of having a socket, may be gradually enlarged from its top edge to the lower edge, showing in cross-section a taper, the largest part of which is downward; and the head of the connecting-iron, instead of consisting of a single upward-projecting part with a slight twist, may consist (see Fig. 6) of two upwax'd-projecting fiat parts having a slot or space between them, into which the lower rail (tapered in cross-section) of the dashframe will find place. By having the slot or space into which the rail rests extend in a direction which shall be slightly oblique or at a slight twist with respect to the flat part n of the iron plate the same result of binding the parts firmly is obtained.

Another modification is shown in Fig. 7, in which the slot or socket is curved, forming a part of a circle in the vertical direction, and the single head of the connecting-iron has a corresponding curve. By having the irons at one end of the dash to curve to the right and those at the other end to curve to the left, or I the reverse way, the parts will be rigidly secured together.

While the improvement herein shown and described permits the dash to be moved end- Wise on the irons which connect it with the vehicle-body, which is a result like that obtained by the device de cribed in United States Letters Patent No. 22 ,582, issued to me July 6, 1880, the means herein shown are to be preferred to the patented device, or any other of which I have knowledge, because of the novel and effective manner in which the connectingirons are rigidly secured together.

Having described my invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States 1. In devices for connecting dashes to carriage-bodies, the combination of an iron having a slot which extends lengthwise of the dash, and an iron to rest or find place in the slot, and one of said irons at the point where it connects with the other being oblique or slightly twisting with respect to the flat part, by which it is attached to the dash or body, as the case may be, as set forth.

2. In devices for connecting dashes to carriage-bodies, the combination of an iron having a socket with the opening on the under side gradually enlarging upward, and a connecting-iron attached to the body having an upward extension or head to enter the socket and occupy therein a slightly oblique or twisting position relative to that part which is directly attached to the body, as set forth.

ABIA Z. BODA.

\Vitnesses:

M. I). PnrLLIPs, ALBERT ALLEN. 

